


There’s No Such Thing... right?

by Cerise_Jones



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Halloween, Horror, Marvel Universe, Minor Gamora/Peter Quill, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, POV Alternating, POV Mantis (Marvel), POV Peter Quill, Plot Twists, Post-Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Protective Gamora (Marvel), Protective Peter Quill, Spooky, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-08 03:30:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21229064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerise_Jones/pseuds/Cerise_Jones
Summary: Halloween GOTG ficOn the bright side, they’ve narrowed it down to either a ghost, demon or literal nightmare terrorising them on their own ship. On the dark side... well, it seems as though they’re about to find out.Screaming, running and blood seeping from the walls... not ideal when you’re on a spaceship with nowhere to escape.And Peter thought Halloween would be fun......In space no one can hear you scream.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> IM BACK! I actually missed uploading here considering I used to upload multiple chapters daily for the last fic. Anyway, I was hoping that I would be inspired enough to write this for Halloween and poof! Inspiration appeared.
> 
> Two chapters today, tomorrow and the final conclusion will be on Halloween.
> 
> Enjoy :D
> 
> sorry no nebula :(

** Gamora **

“DRAX-“

Gamora turned her head in the direction of Peter’s shout, walking through the ship as she frowned at the loudness of his tone. Before she could take another step, the ship almost trembled with a louder yell from Drax in response to what Gamora supposes is Peter’s third jumpscare today, having had to deal with the consequences of his juvenile pranks when he creeped up behind and yelled in both Rocket and Groot’s ears. 

You can imagine how it went with Rocket, though Peter’s prank must have worked since there were now claw marks on the ceiling from where Rocket jumped so high. The only person he hasn’t tried it on is her, so it seems he does have some sense. He also wouldn’t dare try and terrify Mantis, mostly because she’d be able to sense him coming due to the blaze excitement radiating off of him, partly because you’d have to have no soul to want to terrify Mantis. 

But he seemed to have no problem getting the rest of them, it obviously worked on Drax too, considering that wasthe closest thing Gamora has heard to a screech coming from him. 

She’s about to shake her head at the fact that Drax even fell for it after already having two warnings today, but almost jolts instead as Drax’s yell is followed by a higher pitched shriek from Peter directly after.

“What the-“

She stops and turns on her heels, marching towards the source of the commotion as the muffled sound of Drax and Peter’s voices were being thrown back and forth. Gamora bursts her way into Drax’s room and immediately sets eyes on the scarlet foundation protruding from Peter’s nose, watching him clutch his face as he bends over. 

“What is happening in here-“

“Drax just tried to kill me!” Quill splutters, standing up straight and pointing with a bloody hand to Drax who looked beyond offended.

“You attacked me first, what did you aim to achieve by approaching silently and shouting my name at me?”

“It was s’pposed to be a joke.”

“It was not amusing in any way.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Peter yells as he cradles his face, turning as Gamora’s sigh was even louder than the two of them. She walks over towards him, holding out a hand to his face.

“Let me see.”

He slowly moved away his hand, wincing as he did so but leaning down slightly so she could get a clear view. She felt his eyes on her face, awaiting her reaction as she inspected.

“He just broke my freakin face, didn’t he?”

“No.” She says flatly, bending down to grab a surprisingly clean towel (compared to Rocket’s laundry) laid on Drax’s bed and placing it over Peter’s face. She acknowledged Drax by giving him the same glare Peter was when she walked in.

“Drax, what were you thinking? You almost broke Peter’s face.”

“You’re blaming me? He should count himself lucky, I was close to smacking him through the wall with the way he sneaked up on me.”

“You know what?” Peter taunts, voice muffled and nasally as he holds his hand over Gamora’s to help apply pressure. “You’re just mad because I scared the shit out of you.”

“You did not scare me, you startled me.”

“Whatever, your reaction was almost as good as Rocket’s, but instead now I gotta hole in my face.”

“And for what?” Gamora raises her eyebrows, asking him as his eyes drift slowly to her. “In celebration of that ridiculous holiday that no one in their right mind-“

“Hey, Halloween is a big deal where I come from. Took me ages to work out the date in this part of the quadrant and if you could see all the people making jack-o’-lanterns on Terra right now, you’d be the one who feels ridiculous.” He says, standing there with a scrunched up towel over his face and his hair sticking up in every direction.

Drax scoffed, a reminder of his previous query into why anyone would name a root vegetable ‘Jack’ as Gamora attempted to flatten Peter’s frenzied hair.

“Just go and put some ice on it before it bruises.”

He listens to the instruction, walking out of Drax’s room after giving him one final scowl over the towel. Gamora looks at the slight traces of blood on her hands before following Peter, hearing Rocket’s voice erupt in the corridor.

“What happened to you?”

“Shut up.” Peter huffed out, marching past him and throwing himself into the bathroom before shutting the door abruptly.

Naturally, Rocket cursed something at Peter in response, storming off himself just as the bathroom door flew back open. Gamora watched as the mess of Peter’s hair spilled around the door followed by his trademark  _‘feeling-sorry-for-myself-after-getting-myself-into-shit’_ face.

“G’mora can you hel-“

“I’m coming.” She sighs, holding out her palms as the rouge tint of Peter’s mistakes cover her hands, ready to patch him up like she has done a million times before.


	2. Mantis

** Mantis **

“What was that?”

Mantis jumps as she turns around, antennae sparking as Rocket trudges into the room. 

“The usual, Quill shoutin’ at me for nothin after getting beat up.”

“I am Groot??” Groot says excitedly, Mantis looks at him from across the table as she senses his amusement.

“Hell yeah Drax beat him up.” Rocket responds, smile sharp. “Was a long time comin’ if you ask me-“

“Where is Quill?” Drax suddenly appears in the doorway, voice so booming that Mantis almost jumps again. Rocket turns to look up at him quickly, it seems as though they’re all pretty jumpy today.

“What d’ya mean where is he? Didn’t you punch him straight back to Terra minute ago?”

“No, I punched him in the face.”  Drax replies plainly. “I would like to apologise for my acute reflexes-

He’s cut off as a sudden noise replaces his voice. 

A deep muffled sound that rolls through the air, it’s volume growing as Mantis freezes and looks around at each of them questioningly.

“...Geez, Drax was that you?” Rocket gives a disgusted look. “I told you to lay off of those Zarg Nuts-“

“That was not me!” Drax yells, once again offended. 

Suddenly the sound emerges around them again, it’s grumble prickling Mantis’ skin as her wide eyes scan the room for the source. 

It gets louder, echoing at them from all angles until it bursts into a high pitched scratch, one that makes each of them flinch, even Drax. Mantis stands up quickly, looking around desperately for the cause as Groot nonchalantly covers his ears. She sees Rocket’s mouth move as he swears under the noise, watching him head to a section of the room that she’s also heading towards as his ears flick down. 

He kicks at one of Quill’s music speakers, not caring about the damage he’s doing until the infernal sound fizzes and splutters to a stop. The normal hum of the ship glides through the air again as Groot removes his hands from his ears, just as casually as he’d put them over them.

“Flarkin’ Quill with his music.” Rocket huffs as a tool appears in his paw that he whipped out from his belt. Mantis watches as he twirls it and jabs at the rainbow of wires in the back of the speaker. “I tried fixin’ this piece of junk last week.”

Mantis flinches at he stabs the tool into a cord. “Careful! Don’t electrocute yourself.” She warns, visualising Rocket becoming even more fluffy and a hot head from literally being fried.

_“Relax,”_ He shrugs off her concern. “This isn’t one of those dumb appliances what roasts you when you pull at wires,” He announces, pulling at a wire. “I upgraded this thing, couldn’t electrocute me if it wanted to.”

“If you upgraded it then why is it broken?” Drax says sharply. “Cease it from making that accursed sound, it’s almost as bad as the music.”

Rocket sways the tool up defensively as though it were a weapon. “It’s  _broken _because Quill plays the damn thing constantly-“

“What the hell d’you do to my speakers?!” Mantis flicks her head over to the doorway where Quill suddenly emerged, standing there with a thick white bandage over his nose and two black eyes to go with it, along with a frown that he aims at Rocket who aims a more experienced one back, clearly not liking his tone.

“What the hell d’you do to your face?” Rocket retorts, Gamora looming from behind Quill’s shoulder and following him through the doorway to take a seat at the table, not bothering to find out what Quill and Rocket were bickering about now as she sat next to Mantis. Rocket continued.

“You look like a horror show.”

This seemed to snatch Gamora’s attention. 

“That’s what I was trying to remember, a horror.” Quill looked at her questioningly as he took a seat. “I do not see why you couldn’t have just played one of those awful horror movies from Terra instead of these ridiculous pranks.”

“There’s no need for horror films, have you seen his face?”

Quill lunges to grab Rocket but he’s too fast, scurrying underneath the table and snickering as he climbs onto his seat.

“It’s much more fun this way.” Quill defends, Mantis frowns at the weird sound of his voice from his blocked nose. “Besides, you guys should _love_ Halloween, imagine all the people you could freak out with your weapons and your tattoos and the fact that you’re a talking animal that can’t shut up.” He laughs to himself. “You guys would be scary as hell for Halloween- well, apart from you Mantis.”

Mantis pauses, tilting her head slightly as she ponders. “I can be scary.” She states. Drax almost laughs, Rocket scoffs.

“What d’you mean she’s not scary? She’s all bug eyes and antennas-“

He’s cut off as Gamora kicks at him from under the table. Quill resumes his point.

“I’m talking about personality. Like, you say one bad thing to Gamora, you’d probably run for the hills before you finished what you were saying. You say a bad thing to Mantis, she’d find a way to flip it and compliment you somehow, you’re just really sweet is all I’m saying.”

Mantis takes in the word ‘sweet’ and smiles for a moment, before catching herself and frowning. “But I could be scary too, like you guys.“

“Who you kidding? You couldn’t intimidate anybody with your cutesy act. I’ve met Flerkens scarier than you.”

Mantis opens her mouth to say something else but decided against it, she merely looks over as Drax takes his seat at the table, making the room shake.

“I’m sorry for my sharp reflexes. I’m sure your feeble Terran biology will not take that long to heal.”

Quill sighs, looking down over his bandage. “Yeah, thanks bud.”

“Hey, look on the bright side, you don’t need to worry about a Halloween costume ‘cause your face is enough of a wreck! Plus, now you got the bruises to add to it.”

Peter pauses after Rocket’s remark, a mixture of being lightly offended but also hesitating, looking over at Gamora as he contemplates whether trying to stuff Rocket in the air lock would be worth it. He reluctantly decides against it.

Mantis sits quietly as the day goes by, occasionally chiming in to lift someone’s spirits or laugh at a joke Drax tried to make that nobody else understood. But something definitely feels off about today, as though she can sense something ominous in the air. So ominous that she almost feels compelled to do more research into this ‘Halloween’ occurrence...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rocket’s pov next then Peter’s. Things are about to get a lot darker... ;)
> 
> uploading tomorrow!


	3. Rocket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out spooking the Guardians is fun to write. Enjoy.

** Rocket **

Noises don’t usually affect Rocket when he sleeps, even though his hearing is about nine times more sensitive than an average humanoid’s. He’s actually able to sleep through most things, Drax’s snoring being one. But _this _noise, the sound that jolts him awake as he sleeps - a piercing buzz that trembles through the air when he sits up - tugs him out of his sleep and into a blur of confusion as he looks around in the dim light.

He shakes his head, scratching at his ears to see if the sound will die out, which gradually it does. He only gives it a second of thought as his head drops down to the pillow, the need of sleep taking over his need for ‘what the hell was that’. But just as his fur touches the pillow, he jumps up again, this time with a bolt of fear, the sound of shouting stabbing his nerves.

Mantis’ scream surrounds his whole body. “Guys! Help!” She shrieks, incredibly loudly and immediatly he’s up. Well, sort of. He stands on his covers and attempts a jump off the bed but gets his foot caught in the material and basically rolls off the bed in a heap. 

“Fu-“ He’s cut off as another scream fills the air. He forgets the pain in his ass which he’d just fell on and scrambles for the nearest weapon he's left laying around, which luckily isn’t too far.

Bolting out of the room, he’s almost stepped on by Peter running past him, followed by Gamora who holds up her sword as she sprints. He tries talking to their blur as they go past.

“What in the hell is-“

“Mantis?!” Quill shouts, getting closer to her room which seems to be where it’s coming from. Rocket holds up his gun as the door comes into view, Drax already being there and trying to break it down. Rocket doesn't to hesitate to help, neither does Quill who looks like he’s contemplating shooting the handle with his blaster just to get in there.

Gamora comes up slower than the rest of them, expression a mixture of caution and hesitance as she calls out. 

“Mantis?”

That’s when Rocket realises that the shouting had stopped. There was no sound at all now, other than the forceful breaths of the rest of them freaking the hell out as they pounded on the door. The sensation that he gets in the pit of his stomach feels like he’d just gulped down lava.

But the feeling he gets after what happens next burns him from inside out. 

The door just opens. It unlocks itself and swings open slowly and for a moment, they all stand there with question marks over their heads until reality hits them again and they burst into the room. Expect, there’s nothing there.

No Mantis. No intruder asking to get shot. No nothing.

“What- What the hell-?  _Mantis?” _ Quill stutters, looking around the room and up at the ceiling as though she could be up there. 

Groot stumbles into the room and Rocket slightly feels relieved when he sees him, though the way he’s gripping his gun says different.

“Where is she?!” He shouts, looking at Quill as though he has the answers. All he does have though his a completely dumbfounded expression laced with terror as he darts his head around the room.

“Oh... GOD, it’s happening again?!”

He jolts as he turns around to lay eyes on Gamora and goes over to her, grabbing her suddenly and pulling her in as her already burning frown intensifies. “The  _snap_\- ohmygod, she just freakin disappeared! I’m not going through that again-“

“Ain’t no damn way there was another snap.” Rocket yells, waving his gun around, but he does admit that’s the only logical explanation he can think of.

“He’s right.” Gamora says, pushing Peter off as though he were suffocating her. “It can’t be.”

“Then what the hell is going on?!“

Gamora stops, frown bouncing into concern as she’s left speechless.

“What do we do?!” Drax yells, voice almost as powerful as the fear they’re all feeling.

Peter seems to reassess the situation, look around a final time and completely freak out.

“I don’t understand- where did she go?! She was calling out, she needed help! What do we-“

He stops dead as they all freeze. 

A weird but familiar sound pours through the air, making each of their ears hurt and Rocket’s fur stands on end. 

“Is that your damn speakers again, Quill?” He shouts over the grumble. “I swear I’m gonna-“

** _“GET OUT.”_ **

Rocket feels his blood run cold as a voice fills his ears. It seeps through the speakers and it’s deepness causes shivers as he almost drops his gun, eyes wide with terror as he looks around. Each of them look like they’ve gotten paler by two shades, even the ones made of wood. Apart from Drax.

“Which one of you said that?” He asks, almost annoyed that he’d been told to get out of his own home.

“That wasn’t any of us, Drax.” Peter says, almost so calmly that you know something’s definitely wrong. The fact that Gamora is speechless says it all.

** _“ROCKET.”_ **

The voice shouts. Rocket rapidly looks around. Stops. Looks at Quill, looks at his gun and then back at Quill before clutching his gun and speaking.

“Nah f&%!ck that. See ya!” He makes a break for it towards the door, Gamora calls after him.

“Wait!”

“For what?!” He says, turning around and peeking around the door frame. “You heard that, they’re talking to  _me! _I’m getting out of here.

“What d’you mean ‘getting out of here’? We’re on a space ship in the middle of freakin space!” Quill yells, running after him as the rest of them trail out too.

Just as Rocket is about to turn a corner he’s dragged back by his tail. He almost screams as he thinks his time has come but looks around to see Peter’s wide green (and still black) eyes staring over him.

“Get off me-“

“Slow down, you can’t just run off.”

“Tell that to the hundreds of other times I’ve ran from a situation.”

Quill stops as he flinches, obviously creeped out as Gamora comes from behind him. 

“There must be someone on our ship.” She says pretty calmly, considering the meaning of her sentence.

“Oh what, and they’ve got a voice that can just magically fill the whole ship? It’s a freakin ghost, Greenie! Quill was the one talking about HalLowEeN and now look!”

“Wait- you’re saying this is my fault?”

“I am Groot!”

Quill stands abruptly. “I didn’t summon anything! Ghosts don’t just rock up to your house because you pulled a couple of pranks.”

“They do now! You go fight it. I’m outta here.” Rocket yells, standing as well.

“It called  _your _name, you probably summoned it.” Peter retorts. “I told you being an asshole would catch up on you one da-“

Gamora gasps and Quill instantly stops. He turns to look at her, and Rocket looks from behind Quill to see her stood frozen, staring at something intensely behind them. She slowly raises her sword and Rocket frowns as he goes to see what she’s looking at.

Down the corridor is a tall figure, as tall as the ceiling with drooping thin limbs, standing eerily still as it faces them. The darkness causes a silhouette and all that can be seen is their black outline, but that doesn’t stop Rocket and Quill from screaming in unison as they set eyes on it. Groot turns around and loses it too, while Drax casually turns around and looks shocked for merely a second before twirling his daggers in his hand.

He yells as he runs towards it, blade outstretched, followed by Gamora who doesn’t hesitate to approach it with her sword up. Rocket holds his breath as they get close and is ready to work up the courage to help when the lights go off.

The whole ship in plunged into darkness. 

He feels his heart beating like crazy in his chest as the sudden change in lighting causes him to drop his gun.

“Shit.” He says as he bends down to grab it. The darkness almost caused him to lose his balance as she scrambles down on the floor to find it, searching through pitch black as his paw comes into contact with something.

“There’s something on my foot!” Peter shrieks, Rocket hears the sound of Quill’s blaster gear up. 

“No, don’t shoot you idiot it’s me!”

“Peter, what is going on?!” Gamora says, sounding terrified for the first time since hell broke loose.

“It’s alright. Where are you, I can’t see.” Peter replies and Rocket listens to the sound of his socks padding on the floor as he moves in the direction of where she was before the darkness.

Just as Rocket’s paws come into contact with the cold metal of his gun, the lights burst back on. He turns quickly but the figure is gone. He takes a premature sigh of relief as he looks around at the rest of them, Drax still gripping his dagger while Gamora grips the arm of Peter’s pyjama shirt. 

But Rocket freezes when he sees one face missing.

“...Where’s Groot?”

The words leave his mouth and echo in the hallway as realisation sets in. He turns around rapidly to scan his surroundings and tries to ignore the rising panic in his chest.

“Groot?”

Rocket calls out as Peter steps forward, expression equally as mortified as he takes a deep breath.

“What the actual F is going on?” He says warily, hesitating to look down at Rocket as if he knows that he’s down there freaking out.

Which is exactly right, because Rocket is standing there, gun dropped on the floor with an awfully scared expression as it hits him that not only is bug lady missing, but now Groot too.

And he has no idea what the F is going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star-Munch is next...


	4. Peter

** Peter **

“Okay, okay, okay. Okay, oh my God. Alright, um- I... okay, uh... ok-“

“I swear if you say that one more time I’m gonna lose it!”

Peter turns to look at Rocket across the table, trying his best to hide his absolutely discombobulated sense of mind as the raccoon gives him daggers.

They had decided to huddle in the communal room, around the dining table. Partly because they could all sit and attempt to think rationally, mostly because it’s now a place where ghosts or creepy figures or whatever the hell it is hasn’t been seen.

“Alright, fine.” He manages. “Everything is cool, everything is good, just being haunted in our own home by a demon I accidentally summoned in the middle of the night on Halloween but its totally cool-“

“A demon-?!” Drax piped up, sitting up straight as though someone had stuck a pin in his back. “Nobody said anything about demons. I say we opt for Rocket’s idea and abandon the ship.”

“No! Not without Groot.” Rocket snaps.

“...And Mantis.” Gamora adds, tone unimpressed.

“Yeah yeah, her too. Look can we just come to some sort of plan for this? Be good for something, Quill. Whip out one of your plans so we can-“

“Uh, I don’t have any plans for ghosts??”

“You don’t?” Gamora says, expression dismal and disappointed as though she had been waiting to hear it.

“Wh- no! Not yet anyway.”

“Well, first of all, there is no such things as ghosts.” Gamora says definitively. “So we can rule that out.”

“No such- what, you think it was a breeze of wind that just called out my name?!” Rocket asks loudly, fur sticking up from where he had been massaging his temples. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. I saw that figure. It’s not a-“

Before she can finish a loud crash erupts from somewhere within the ship. Peter jumps, wincing as he jolts his wounded nose before looking over at the rest of them with wide eyes. 

“You heard that, right-“

Another sound makes the floor shake, but this time it’s more of a bang than a crash. Gamora stands up, walking out of the room and Peter’s reflexes immediately follow after her.

“Hold on!” He whisper-shouts. Placing a hand on the blaster attached to his hip as he marches after her.

Gamora slows, hair swaying in front of her face as she stops to listen, Rocket and Drax joining in on the trail.

“It’s coming from our room.” She says to Peter, expression deeply focused whereas the alarm is blinding on Peter’s face. 

“I’m gonna shoot it.” He announces, going to walk past her before she stops him.

“No, Peter, you can barely see over that mound of bandages on your face. I’ll go.”

Peter scoffs. “Uh, no, you’re not going in there with that thing.”

But before his sentence can have any affect, she’s on the move. “Gamora, wait!” He whispers again as they get closer. When she opens the door and strides into the room, he freaks out and backs up, plastering his back against the wall as he peeks around the door frame, seeing the back of her head as she holds her sword out. 

“Oh shit, oh shit.” He chants as his heart pounds, Rocket seems to be saying the same thing while even Drax looks wary to throw himself into the danger for once. 

Just as Peter turns his head to look in again, he only has a second to see Gamora look up before the door slams in his face. He straightens, stomach exploding fear as he dives for the handle. The door is sealed shut.

“Hey!” Gamora calls from within. Peter yanks at the handle with all his strength as he hears her footsteps. He pulls at the metal knob, so hard that his hand hurts. But he freezes when her footsteps stop, hearing a thud and then nothing at all.

“...Gamora?”

He waits for a response, when he gets nothing he bangs his fist on the door.

“Gamora?! What’s going on in there... can you hear me?!”

The silence sends prickles down his back as millions of thoughts cross his mind. He steps back to get a better grip of the handle and as he does, he looks down. 

Then wishes that he hadn’t.

His legs almost give out from beneath him as he looks at the floor.

Seeping out from under the door is a deep red puddle of what looks like blood. Peter takes a second to gasp as he stumbles back, almost standing on Rocket before the millions of thoughts crossing his mind turn into nightmares. 

“Gamora?!!” He gasps as he goes to kick at the door, trying to break it down, making him wonder what the hell the thing is made of as it doesn’t budge. Drax helps, giving one kick that loosens it slightly. He’s about to do it again, but Peter looses all patience, drawing his blaster and shoots at the handle. It completely disintegrates as the door tilts and he doesn’t even take a second to think before swinging it open.

When he enters the room he looks around desperately. In the middle of the room Gamora lies sprawled out on the floor, completely unconscious, her sword fallen to the side of her and when he sees her, Peter feels as though his chest has literally just exploded.

“Oh my God!” He mouths as he runs over. He trips as he kneels down next to her, not even realising Drax and Rocket kneeling next to him as he reaches down.

He gently touches her arm, placing the other hand on her face as he shakes her.

“Gamora? Hey,” He shakes her a little harder until he sees her frown, waking up.She blinks herself awake and he can’t help but sigh in relief, feeling dizzy as he does so. She opens her eyes and jumps as she comes to, he moves his hand to her hair as she sits up.

“Hey it’s okay, it’s just me.” He says quietly, Gamora looks at him. “Are you alright?” He asks. She blinks at him before giving a slightly confused expression. 

“Yeah...” She starts, then “Yes.” More confidently.

“What happened?!” Rocket yells. “You we’re only in here for two seconds!” Gamora looks down at him.

“I- I don’t know. I don’t remember seeing anything in here..” She says slowly.

Confusion aches in Peter. “How did you pass out? Did you get hit?” He tilts her head down to look for any damage but she lays her hand over his, easing him off.

“No, I... I didn’t feel anything, I don’t even remember passing out, I’m- there was nothing in here...” The tremble of uncertainty in Gamora’s voice makes him nauseous. Stopping himself from drowning in his own bewilderment, he refocuses on her features. He gives what he hopes is a comforting expression even though his heart is beating like crazy.

He’s about to say something, when he pauses.

He freezes his stare on her face as his expression is struck with horror.

Gamora flinches as something touches her face. She raises her hand to her cheek and takes it away to look at the red liquid on her fingers. Another drip of bloodsplashes down onto her face and she gasps as she jumps backwards, slowly turning her head to look up.

Peter looks up too and when he does, he considers just passing out on the spot as he reads the words** ‘GET OUT’** written in oozing red blood on the ceiling. Before he can speak he feels himself turn white as a sheet, hearing Rocket legging it out of the room as Drax frowns at the message.

“How...” Drax starts, stepping back out of the way as the blood continues to drip. He looks down at Quill, who’s still crouching next to Gamora looking as though he couldn’t stand up if he wanted to.

Peter breaks the silence, swallowing the lump in his throat as his breath hitches.

“We need to get out of here.” He looks at Gamora, the smears of blood still stains her face.

“Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conclusion tomorrow. Happy Halloween Eve.. if that’s a thing.


	5. Drax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All will be revealed... well after Drax stops being confused.

** Drax **

Much like Gamora, Drax never believed in ghosts. He doesn’t believe in anything he can’t stab, as though his beloved daggers were also a test of reality as well as his prized weapons .

Which is why right now he is really genuinely annoyed that he can’t stab ghosts. 

Drax trudges through the ship, watching Quill dart around frantically until they find Rocket, who, of course, was planning to highjack the one and only escape pod in the ship, rather than having been consumed by this ‘thing’ as they had all assumed until they found him.

When Quill lectures him, asking ‘were you seriously about to leave us behind?!’ Rocket does his usual thing were he points when he’s annoyed, saying that he would never leave without Groot and even ‘all of your sorry asses’. 

Just as Drax contemplates how it’s impossible for his behind to feel sorry for anything, Gamora says something that grabs his attention.

“Nobody is going anywhere.” She states, yanking Rocket by the scruff and away from the pod as Peter scratches his head. “This _thing _thinks it can lurk uninvited on our ship? Why should we leave? I say we find it and make it regret it’s entire existence in our home.”

Finally, something Drax can work with. Other than the fact that if it is, in fact, a _demon _as Quill so cursedly put it, he’d be stuffing himself into that escape pod with Rocket. Something about a being like that is one of the few things Drax wouldn’t like to tamper with, he gets shivers just thinking about it.

A ghost he can handle, provided that he can find a way to impale it.

“Gamora is right.” He offers, looking at Quill directly and ignoring the pang of guilt he still feels as Peter looks back at him a bruised face. “I am certain we can find this creature. If it has Groot and Mantis, I see no other option.”

Quill looks as though he’s taking a moment to think, though Drax cannot be sure since he pulls the exact same expression when he’s about to sneeze.

“Okay.” Peter says. “Okay, of course,  _of course_ we’re not leaving Groot and Mantis. I was just extra spooked because...” He trails off, looking at Gamora, then catches himself. “We can totally do this, honestly this is nothing compared to other stuff we’ve faced.

Rocket does a dramatic sigh, looking up at Quill and folding his arms.

“So what’s the plan?”

Peter bites his lip. “I mean, we last saw i it in our bedroom, right?”

“Well apparently Gamora didn’t see anything.” Rocket challenges.

“No, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still around there somewhere.” Gamora defends. “If we go down there together, we’ll be ready for it this time.”

There’s a moment of silence as they all ready themselves, Drax’s frown is vivid as it seems Peter just giggled to himself. Rocket shoots him a look.

“What’s so damn funny?”

Peter composes himself, then fails as he flashes a smile.

“I was just thinking of something... do you know who we need to call?” He says, face vibrantly expectant as Gamora gives him a questioning expression.

“Ghostbusters.” 

Quill announces it as though it were supposed to mean something to them. Drax shakes his head as he switches himself off from the conversation entirely.

Rocket looks hesitant. “...Okay, give me their digits so I can radio them.”

Quill laughs. “Nooo its a joke. Ugh I knew you guys wouldn’t understand-“

“You think we got time for jokes?! I hope the ghoul gets you next-“

“Ugh, can we just go, now please?” Gamora cuts them off, ushering them with her sword which seems to motivate them to move.

Drax is about to follow them out of the door when he hears a noise behind him.

He turns, knowing that the others have walked ahead of him but is enticed by this sound he can hear. He walks into the centre of the room, it seems as though the sound is coming from above.

Cautiously, he looks up. He stares at the ceiling tiles, following their pattern and yelps when one of them moves. He reacts, throwing his dagger upwards and missing as he stumbles back in surprise. But when he darts his head upwards again, what he sees makes his heart clench for a different reason.

A familiar face looks down at him through the ceiling tiles, he’s about to speak until they do first.

“Drax, come up here with us.”


	6. Gamora

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close! :)

** Gamora **

“We’re close.” Gamora whispers as she looks behind her at Peter and Rocket. The bedroom where it last was being just a doorway away, she’s light on her feet as she leads them, Peter being close behind her as she can feel his heavy breathing on the back of her hair.

Suddenly she stops, registering something as she quickly darts around.

“Where’s Drax?!” 

Peter looks behind him at Rocket and Rocket looks behind him at nothing.

“Oh shit.” Rocket says as Peter grips his blaster.

“That’s it! I say we start shootin’ at the first thing that moves!” Quill announces as he unclips his weapon.

“No-!” Gamora hisses as she holds out a hand to compose them. She slows to listen carefully, thinking that she can hear something in hope of locating the intruder, but almost gasps when instead she hears Drax’s yelp from another room.

She turns rapidly and is running before the rest of them. They travel like a stampede as they burst into the room they just came out of.

Gamora can feel her heart pounding as she looks around the room and Drax is gone. Out of anger she stamps her sword’s blade against the floor, then catches her breath as the rising panic fills her lungs like water. That’s another one of them gone and it’s only just hitting her now that she has no idea of how to work out what is happening. She shakes her head as though to get rid of the fear and tries to think rationally. Just as she regains composure she feels shiver go down her spine as she senses something above her head.

“Did you hear that?” Peter says in a shaking tone. Gamora looks at him before gasping as the noise above her head gets louder. 

It sounds like something is in the loft within the ceiling tiles, a heavy banging sound that makes her eyes widen at the sense of how big it is. Suddenly, a high pitched squeak shudders the whole room and Gamora drops her sword to cover her ears. Rocket doubles over in pain, the noise like pins in their ears and just as it fades away, it resembles the sound of a microphone.

** _“PETER QUILL.”_ **

Gamora watches Peter look up, his face horror stricken as he raises his blaster. The voice starts off deep but then gets higher, Gamora frowns. 

**_“GAMORA ZEN-WHO- ZE-_** wait, what is it again?” 

The voice dissipates into a familiar tone of giggles as the deepness disappears. Gamora feels her brain throb with confusion. The muffled sound continues to travel over them until something bursts out of the ceiling.

Peter and Rocket scream higher than Gamora ever could as the ceiling gives out and crumbles of the tiles fall down, a huge heap landing on the floor as Peter finally reacts and shoots without looking. His blasts bounce around the room and when Gamora is finally able to work out what he is shooting at, she yells at him to stop.

“Wait!” Peter looks at Gamora quickly before steadying his trembling gun. He blinks, looking over slowly to the heap in the corner. Rocket peeks from behind Quill’s leg.

Across the room sits Drax on the floor, covered in dust and dirt from his ungraceful entrance, coughing out dust as behind him Mantis and Groot sit up. Gamora almost chokes as she looks at them, the bewilderment starting to get on her nerves.

“What the heck?!” Peter yells. “Mantis-“

“Groot!” Rocket shouts, scurrying over to him as Groot falls back on the floor with laughter.

“Why are you laughing?” Gamora snaps. “Are you alright? That _thing_ took you and we didn’t know where-“

“There is no thing.” Mantis says, standing up and brushing herself off with a smile that Gamora hardly deems as appropriate.

“Wh- What are you talking about?!” Peter trembles. “I- you- I heard you screaming and then the voice-“

“I got you!” Mantis chants, jumping up and down as the dust on her hair bounces with her. “I knew I could do it and it worked!” She announces as she turns to high-five Groot.

Gamora loses all patience.

“One of you better explain what is going on. Now.”

Mantis’ smile fades slightly a she looks at her, then returns.

“A halloween prank. Quill did his and I did mine!”

“Hold on- hold the flark up! This was a _prank?!”_ Rocket explodes as he stands away from Groot, looking up at Mantis. She beams.

“Yes.” She says sternly. “You said that I couldn’t be scary.” Rocket’s eye twitches, she goes on. “And I told you that I could be and you refused to listen. I can be scary like you guys and now I’ve proved it!”

Her smiles deflects against Rockets livid expression and Peter clutches his chest. “But the voice.” He says. “And the _sounds _and the freakin figure in the damn hallway-!”

“That was all me.” She giggles. “I was up all night planning this... I think you guys underestimate the lengths I’ll go to when I want to prove a point. I cut the figure out of left over blueprints Rocket left lying around and hung it from where I was in the ceiling.”

“You were in the ceiling?!” Peter asks.

“How else would I have been able to hide in here? I climbed on my bed and jumped up, my room has the lowest ceilings.”

“So that was you calling my name all spooky like?” Rocket says, offended.

“Hehe yep! I knew that the speakers were all ready broken so that’s what caused the weird noises and then I just used the microphone to speak and-“

“Groot, what was your part in this?” Rocket says accusingly.

Groot is to busy melting into a puddle of laughter as Rocket kicks at him.

“I had Groot turn out the lights and then I pulled him up.” Mantis states as Groot grins proudly, getting an infuriated look from Rocket.

“You were in on it? ...That’s it. I truly can’t trust anybody in this universe. I’ve had enough, I’m going back to bed since there’s no freaking ghost or demon or anything.” He trudges out the room, Groot finally standing up and marching after him, rambling out a spew of ‘I am Groot’s as he apologises through giggles.

Gamora sighs, looking over at Peter as he still looks like his head is going to explode as he tries to put it all together.

“But the blood! The blood I saw, I thought it was Gamora’s blood.”

Gamora frowns. “What blood? The one from the ceiling?”

“No, from under the door, when you were locked in and unconscious. A huge red puddle of-“

“My blood is green, Peter.”

Peter stops, mouth half open as he thinks.“...Oh yeah.”

“The ‘blood’ was just that gross drink that you like.” Mantis says calmly.

“...My Kold-Aid?” Peter asks, scratching his head. “You’re telling me I almost had a heart attack because of some cherry flavoured drink?” He says, cheeks burning red. 

“And you wrote the message on the ceiling?” Gamora questions, Mantis nods.

“I wrote it on the other side of the ceiling and it leaked through.” She says proudly.

Gamora narrows her eyes. “You really thought about this, I see... You also put thought into knocking me out?” She says harshly and Mantis almost flinches, finally looking guilty for her prank as she drops eye contact. Gamora eases her expression.

“...You only sent me to sleep, I suppose the whole thing is slightly amusing when you think about it. Especially your face throughout all of it, Peter.”

She gives a sharp smile as Peter looks surprised for a moment before his expression glides into the smile you would expect from him when someone pranked him good.

“Can you blame me?” He says gently, he looks at Mantis. “You seriously did all of this just to prove us wrong?”

Mantis nods.

“I guess I really did underestimate you, I definitely take back calling you sweet now.” He laughs for the first time as he puts a hand on his head, looking down as if annoyed and amused at himself for a falling for it. “You gotta teach me, that was the best prank I’ve ever seen.”

“Please, don’t.” Gamora pleads as the thought of Peter feeling encouraged to do more pranks bounces in her mind.

Mantis’ grin eases into a slightly serious expression. “But can we still celebrate Halloween properly? I did some research on it and activities they do in Terra... I would very much like to dress up.”

Gamora watches the excitement practically radiate off Peter.

“Hell yeah we can! Gamora, can we?”

Gamora sighs as she looks at him, his green eyes reflecting her green hesitant expression.

“You can dress up, I’m staying out of it.”

Peter seems to accept this as a win and almost runs out the room rambling ideas to Mantis. Gamora calls after them.

“Who’s gonna clean this up?!” She shouts, pointing towards Drax who’s still sitting in a heap of rubble. He sighs as he stands.

“I will.” He says. “As comeuppance for my misdeed with Quill’s face earlier.”

Gamora smiles. “And the fact that you were far too heavy to be in the ceiling and are the reason it gave way.”

Drax pauses. “Yes, that too.”

Gamora laughs as she walks out of the room. 

“I’ll get you a broom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In conclusion, don’t underestimate Mantis.. seems as though she can be pretty ruthless when she wants to fit in :D


	7. Ghost off bro!

And so, after Peter had ransacked his wardrobe and dragged Rocket out of bed to take part in the Halloween he’d wanted from the moment he’d found out it was today, they all celebrated what Gamora once called a ridiculous holiday, not that she’s changed her mind about that.

But she does suppose it is enjoyable to an extent. Particularly when Mantis steps out of her room with green paint on her face and antennae, claiming that she has dressed up and a mantis insect from Terra. And Peter bouncing out of his room with a red suit jacket and a bow tie he pulled out of nowhere, with his hair combed up all poofy, stating that he was the iconic ‘Kevin Bacon’ from the dance scene in footloose, doing the dance as well to thoroughly demonstrate. 

Rocket snaps at Peter, yelling at him to leave him alone about a costume and giving in to say that he’s ‘come as one of those stupid ‘raccoon’ creatures from Terra’ just to get Quill to shut up... and burst out laughing. 

The one that seems to get Peter the most is Drax, who stands there with a broom in hand sweeping up the mess as Peter jumps up and declares that now he _definitely_ looks like Mr Clean. 

And finally, Groot states that he’s come as a meme that he saw online, growing out leaves on his head into an afro and claiming that he is ‘Bob Ross’... whoever that is.

And at the end of all of this - absolute chaos, screaming and what she thought was a nightmare come to life, Gamora admits that she can see the enjoyment from this Halloween holiday.

Besides, next year she plans to dress up as that ‘Sandy’ lady from the movie Greese, seeing as it is Peter’s second favourite movie of all time.

She’s sure he will very much appreciate if she wears the heels and does the ridiculous dance routine too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it! The most chaotic family on the most chaotic holiday.
> 
> First of all I’d like to apologise for no Nebula :( I started writing and wanted to include her but I had so many POV going on that I didn’t put her in (I love my blue cyborg, she would have definitely tried to kick the ghosts ass or helped with the pranking). Also sorry for no Groot pov.. I was gonna do a chapter just saying ‘I am Groot’ but I figured that would have been a bit limited without a translation :)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and for all your comments, once again it was my pleasure sharing with you guys!
> 
> Happy Halloween!


End file.
